Lightroom

[Walczak Photo]

Hey Paul,
Well, I haven't used Lightroom specifically yet, but being an Adobe product, there are a couple of things I would check.

First and foremost, if it was working right before and isn't now, I'd check your profiles and make sure nothing got changed by accident or something. I don't know how much you know about this stuff, but in a small nutshell, each device you use (camera, monitor, printer, etc.,) has to have a color profile to interpret the colors you see on the screen vs. what's printed, etc.. Essentially, a "255 pure red" may look one way to your camera, another way to your monitor and yet another way to your printer. Ideally, all your hardware should use the same profile...sRGB for example.

What I would do here is, if as you say the images are printing correctly from Elements and not Lightroom, compair the color profiles and see if they're using the same profiles. This should be under either your color settings or preferences somewhere. If you're printing these on your own printer, I would also compare this under your print properties as well...make sure that both programs are using the same printer profiles too. NOTE: Do be aware that "sRGB IEC61966-2.1" and "Adobe RGB (1998)" are two different color sets! 9 out of 10 times when you're having a problem with color consistancy, something with the profiles are to blame.

Now I would also like to add that it's also possible that perhaps one of your profile files has become corrupt. Which leads me to my second suggestion. If the profiles you're using appear to be correct, you may simply need to completely uninstall and then reinstall Lightroom. This is important...if you have to re-install, make sure you completely uninstall the program first! Get the whole freakin thing off your harddrive before you reinstall it.

Lastly, I have to ask something here too....when you say that your printing your photos, do you mean on your own printer or at a lab? If you're doing this on your own printer, then please disregard this comment. However if your having these printed at a photo place then it's possible that they may have done something with their software. I had this happen with Ritz camera...every time they upgraded their kiosk software, they changed their color profiles and the colors would go REALLY wonkey on my pictures...bright green kangaroo's for example. Unfortunately, the people at Ritz really didn't have a clue what they were doing either...their so-call lab technician didn't even know what a color profile was! LOL!!! The two places I use now for my prints use the standard sRGB profile mentioned above, so it's the same one I use on my system here at home.

Alrighty, good luck and I hope this helps!
Jim

[VibrantMindDance]

Hey Jim. That reply to this question was actually really helpful. I posted the "colors in PS not matching anywhere else" post on this forum and now i'm wondering if I need to uninstall PS and Bridge because maybe its "corrupt". Unfortunately, my copy of CS3 is not the most legal.. i paid $35 for a burnt copy from someone. So perhaps the copy itself is corrupt... and that would be karma!

Although... i guess that would not explain the fact that when I output a photo from CS3... the sharpness is dulled as well? Any thoughts?

[gldiana]

I second Jim on his statements, with two addendum:

1) AVOID sRGB, it has the smallest gamut, which means you're limited in colors displayed and printed. Use AdobeRGB instead or ProPhoto RGB (supplied with Lightroom)

2) Are you sure you didn't change the profile in your camera? Not sure about the rest but Canon cameras allow both sRGB and AdobeRGB. If you shoot with AdobeRGB all your files start with and underscore _

[VibrantMindDance]

Canon does have Adobe RGB but i've heard that it's a lot easier to use sRGB if you dont plan on doing your own printing... which personally I dont think I will do much of anytime in the near future.

Is there anything important I should know about using Adobe RGB when it comes to editing or saving?

[gldiana]

I'm not sure what you mean by sRGB being "easier" than AdobeRGB. They're color profiles, and they get interpreted by the computer. AdobeRGB is a professional profile, sRGB is not. With a smaller gamut it's like having 100 different crayons and using only 60 of them for coloring (sorry for the very basic analogy, but it's the first one that came to my mind).

[VibrantMindDance]

hey. I guess by "easier" I meant more universal. I was told that most labs that you'd send photos out to use sRGB so it would make sense for me to shoot and edit in that color space as well. I apologize for such lame questions, i'm new. ha. anyway...

Once I edit a raw photo and save it as a jpeg and tiff i usually go back to that photo in bridge and restore the photo to its original raw settings by "clearing" the "develop" settings... i think its just a obsessive compulsive thing...is that possibly effecting the jpeg/tiff files?

I just dont know how to get my colors consistent. Its making me insane. Should i try reinstalling CS3? Maybe something is corrupt?

[gldiana]

no need to apologize and it wasn't a lame question.
I'd be surprised if any photo lab wouldn't recognize AdobeRGB, if that was the case I'd certainly change lab.
Once you save (export) a JPEG/TIFF or any other format, nothing you do to the RAW file can modify the file you exported, they are separate entities.
I don't recommend "clearing" your "develop" settings, not only it's a waste of time, but you'd might be getting rid of important modification that would be hard to achieve again. Without counting the fact that RAW modifications are non-destructive and they can be changed years later if necessary. But if you reaaaaaally want to, then, as explained in another thread, all you have to do is delete the .xmp file (the RAW work file).

For your color problem... well, it's not only yours, unfortunately it's a very common thing (I do have the same problem with PS-CS3, where my colors are different than all my other programs). The best solution is to get a comprehensive hardware calibration that not only calibrates your screen but also your printer, but we are talking $400-$600 and upward. A cheaper and still effective solution is a monitor calibration like Spider Pro 2 (version 3 is now out) which only costs $89 (price dropped after release of new version).

[VibrantMindDance]

I have a Pantone Huey monitor calibrator... but unfortunately it doesnt seem to work on my monitor. I have a laptop and I feel like the LCD may have some kind of coating on it and when the calibrator reads the colors it just turns my screen greenish yellow. I've tried calibrating in the complete dark and in ever other kind of lighting thinking that might help but it always just looks exactly the same.

I dont even have a printer thats worth calibrating, its just some canon I got quite cheap. And for any wall-hanging worthy photos, i'd just send them out somewhere (speaking of which if you know of any good labs that'd be great!)

I truely appreciate all of your advice. I certainly cannot afford a system calibrator though. I will try to change everything to adobe RGB and see if that makes any kind of difference. Thanks.

[VibrantMindDance]

Oh yes! And back to the lightroom subject considering thats where this forum started.

Are you able to do selective sharpening/editing with it? Is it easier to use than PS's strange little secret code-like "shortcuts"? I'm a photographer... not a computer-nerd (not that its a bad thing, i kind of wish I was than i probably wouldnt be asking so many questions).

[gldiana]

Great Labs:
My favorite is mpix.com
The turnaround is very quick (from upload to receipt of package usually 3-4 days); customer service is awesome and quality high. Been using this lab for 2 years for my best prints and every time they deliver high quality prints with extra care in the packaging.

Selective editing:
These features are available in the new Lightroom 2.0

Laptops:
Many laptops have screens that do not allow for color calibration because of their anti-reflective coating.

Nerds:
I guess I am one. lol
Been using computers since 1983 (I was 13)

[Bonish Photo]

I'll second Mpix.com like Luca. I've used them plenty in the past, and they have always come through.

Sent some prints to a Gallery in Vegas, and when they got there, the gallery owner contacted me saying that one of the images were scratched in shipping. She took a picture of the scratch and sent it to me which I sent to Mpix.

They had a new image to her within a few days no charge and she just returned the scratched image in the same box. Easy as that!

There prices cant be beat either

[VibrantMindDance]

You guys are wonderful! Thank you so much for all the help. Im sure i'll have a million more questions to come. Ill try the Adobe RGB and see if that soothes my color problems.

[gldiana]

Don't mention it, we're all here to help. Nobody knows "everything" but together we cover quite a good deal of topics.